Review: The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Synopsis: An old friend of Kosuke Kindaichi's invites the scruffy detective to visit the remote mountain village of Onikobe in order to look into a twenty-year-old murder case. But no sooner has Kindaichi arrived than a new series of murders strikes the village - several bodies are discovered staged in bizarre poses, and it soon becomes clear that the victims are being killed using methods that match the lyrics of an old local children's song...

The legendary sleuth investigates, but soon realises must unravel the dark and tangled history of the village, as well as that of its rival families, to get to the truth.

~ ~ ~

This is the sixth in the Kosuke Kindaichi series that have been translated and re-issued; and my engagement with each new (old) release never wanes.

It is a child's nursery rhyme that will aid Kindaichi in solving not only a twenty year murder mystery but the current one that links back to the original. As usual, family secrets, jealousies and rivalries drive the narrative and slowly come to the fore as we discover connections between the victims and their families.

Yokomizo is the master at weaving an intricate and devilish plots, whilst ensuring the reader is immersed in both scenery and culture, to the point that they feel like they are literally following in the footsteps of our detective, Kindaichi.

Hasegawa Hiroki as Konsuke Kindaichi

As always, I am looking forward to the next release from Pushkin Press (Murder at the Black Cat Cafe) - and cannot recommend this series enough.

Review: A Poisoner's Tale by Cathryn Kemp

Synopsis: The legendary figure of notorious seventeenth-century Italian poisoner Giulia Tofana, thought to be the first female serial killer in history, is brought to life in this feminist retelling.

Palermo 1632: Giulia is thirteen when she learns her mother greatest secret: Teofania makes an undetectable, slow-acting, lethal poison—Acqua Tofana—which she uses to free the broken and abused women of Palermo. Now Teofania wants to pass her recipe on to her daughter, and Giulia soon realizes that in a time when women have no voice, justice is sometimes best served in a cup of wine or broth.

Rome, 1656: Years later, within the alleys and shadows of the Eternal City, Giulia forms her own circle of female poisoners, who work together under the guise of an apothecary shop to sell poison to women in need.

But even in a time of plague, when death looms over the city, it doesn’t go unnoticed that the men of Rome are starting to fall like flies. And with the newly elected pope determined to rid the city of witches and heretics, Giulia is more vulnerable than ever. How far is she willing to go to continue her mother’s legacy?

Weaving together the stories of the women Giulia helped, the men she killed, and those who wanted her dead, this is a tale of magic, secrets, vengeance, and sin in the back streets of Rome—and, ultimately, a fight for power.

~ ~ ~

This is a fictional account of 17th century poisoner, Guila Teofania, whose mother was a former courtesan and whose step-father was an abusive, predatory man with links to the Inquisition. Guila sold a poison called Aqua Tofana (supposedly invented by Thofania d'Adamo, who may have been Giulia's mother) to women who wanted to murder their abusive husbands.

The story is narrated in the first person by Guila and then as the tale progresses, alternates with that of Fabio Chigi, Pope Alexander VII (although I found this to be unnecessary, he could have, like the character of Bracchi, remained in the third person narrative).

Whilst the historical Guila Tofana's life and that of her (step)daughter and women's circle is shrouded in mystery, Kemp combines the myths and truths to weave a narrative that is at times compelling and frustrating. 

By frustrating I mean the characters, who despite being on the radar of the Inquisition - and especially Inquisitor Stefano Bracchi - do nothing to conceal their activities and in fact draw further attention to themselves - which for me boils down to stupidity or egotism (author's prerogative and the reader is the proverbial fly on the wall).

The tale is well constructed - whatever the reality - and the reader will get a sense of life in Renaissance Italy.  Life for the majority of women was beyond their control - they were ruled by their fathers, their husbands, their male relative and the Church.

Modern readers may have a hard time understanding the motives behind the many women that sought out the poisoners.  In the book "The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome's Most Infamous Poisoners", by Graig Monson, therein lies the story of Girolama Spana, the alleged daughter of Guila. One of the women to utilise the services of the poisoners - Caterina Nucci - is brought before the Inquisition for questioning after two husband's met similar fates:

Women who sought out their own destiny were often treated with suspicion and branded as witches, and Kemp's book gives the reader a first hand glance at this. There is all the drama of the chase and hunt for these women by Bracchi, and the very real threat of the Inquisition and exposure and death.

For a debut novel, this is quite good - and I did enjoy reading this tale of a group of notorious female poisoners!

Review: The Bluff by Bonnie Traymore

Synopsis: “What do you have to lose, Kate?” Ryan asked me, as we stood on the bluff looking out on Lake Michigan.   Turns out, almost everything.

When I first moved from Manhattan to this small town six years ago, I worried about many things. I worried about finding a job. I worried that I’d be bored. I worried that my relationship with charming photographer Ryan Breslow was moving too fast. But I never worried about whether the ground beneath my feet would crumble—both literally and figuratively.

My marriage didn’t go as I’d imagined. A year ago, Ryan met his untimely death in a car accident that’s still under investigation. Isolated and alone, all I wanted was to sell my home and leave Crest Lake and its painful memories behind.

But with my home inching ever closer to the edge of the crumbling bluff, the property has become unmarketable. All of us on the lakefront have lost chunks of property, and tempers are at a boiling point about what to do next.

And now, on the evening of a contentious vote about how to fix this pressing issue, my nemesis on the shoreline committee has been murdered. I know how it looks, but it’s not what it seems. But I have to get my plan passed and cash out.

Because I do have secrets.   And they won’t stay buried forever.

~ ~ ~

OMG! I loved this so much that I read it in one sitting!

The scene for this mystery is a small coastal community, with the houses of some of the residents at risk of vanishing under the powerful force of mother nature.  Three plans have been submitted for consideration to stop or temporarily halt the impeding ecological disaster - all have their supporters and detractors - but who is willing to commit murder to ensure their plan is the one the proceeds. 

Central to all is our narrator, Kate Breslow, a relative newcomer to the community, and one of those putting forward a plan for community consideration - which has firmly put a target on her back.  When murder is committed, Kate comes under the scrutiny of local law enforcement - and one detective in particular. Will Kate's secrets be finally revealed?

So much to commend this - classic first (Kate Breslow) and third (Det. Travis Whittaker) person narration; red herrings; misdirection; secrets, lies and betrayals; flashback to provide context or detail; the final scene to wrap things up to a conclusion .. and then ... the kicker! 

Definitely reminds me of Lucy Foley, so those who enjoy Foley will love this one too! An easy read, with short chapters alternating between the narration, that gradually build the tension.

Must check out more by this author.

Review: The Long Game - Inside Sinn Fein by Aoife Moore

Synopsis: Inside the rise of the political party, once subordinate to the IRA, that is on the brink of taking power in Ireland.

Sinn Féin, long widely-regarded as the political wing of the Provisional IRA, is the most popular political party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. A movement once synonymous with a paramilitary campaign is on the brink of taking real power through purely democratic means. But if Sinn Féin has mastered the art of electoral politics, it remains strangely opaque. Who really runs the party? How is it funded? And what can we expect of it as a party of government?

Aoife Moore, Irish Journalist of the Year 2021. explores these and other burning questions in The Long Game. Drawing on exclusive interviews with current and former members of Sinn Féin, she builds up a picture of a party undergoing a profound, and still incomplete, transformation. She looks at the key individuals and moments that put the party on its present course, and she explores tensions within the party and the wider republican movement.

~ ~ ~

Moore's books is intended to provide a fair and accurate account of the rise of the Irish political party, Sinn Fein. And to be fair, Moore does this, documenting the legitimisation of Sinn Fein in 1974 through to its current incarnation today. Along the way, the narrative looks deeply into the culture and history and personalities of those within and those pulling the strings of the party.

What the reader will find when picking up this tome are the following, summarised in dot points below, and in no particular order:

• the efforts of the party leadership to change the party's image were undercut by forces within the movement;
• the party was and is in a state of perpetual flux;
• the party is still tied and subservient to its historical paramilitary and political baggage;
• there is a deep seeded culture of bullying, cover-ups, political disfunction, paranoia and suspicion, scandal, chaos, malfeasance;
• it has a top down structure and hierarchy that is not driven by grass roots culture;
• the party leadership worked to control its members and centralise power and no deviation from the party line is tolerated;
• the party narrative was and is driven, controlled and censured by dominant personalities who didn't care for change until the politics became popularly unpalatable;

From available sources, historical documents, and anonymous interviews, Moore has managed to put together a history of the party. The narrative, however, goes back and forth with the introduction of each new character and key events to give perspective and context to the overall story (Irish storytelling is never linear). 

I personally, would also have preferred two things:

1. that the actions of the Sinn Fein were viewed also in context of the actions of its political and paramilitary opponents, though understand that this would have increased what is already a decent lengthy tome;
2. that the detail on the hierarchical structure of the party had been documented earlier in the book to aid the reader is grasping where each organisation was placed.

I have previously read a great deal about Irish history and politics leading up to the early 2000s, so I was keenly interested in what Moore (who implies that the reader has a certain level of knowledge already) had to say and what she could add to what had previously been written. There were some snippets I found of interest whilst there was much that confirmed and substantiated what I knew and suspected from my own readings and research.

Overall, from an outsiders' perspective, Moore achieves her intent. A worthwhile read for those for whom this subject matter is of interest.

Review: Captain Kidd by Samuel Marquis

Synopsis: The breakneck adventure of war, romance, politics, and betrayal, where noble gentleman privateer William Kidd becomes a scapegoat, and Crown and crew sink to unfathomable depths to brand him pirate enemy #1.

Captain William Kidd stands as one of the most notorious “pirate” outlaws ever, but his notorious legend is tainted by a bed of lies. Captain Kidd has captivated imaginations for over three hundred years and inspired many stories about pirates, but was he really a criminal? Just how many ships did he plunder, how many men did he force to walk the plank, and how many throats did he slit? Or is the truth more inconvenient, that he was a buccaneer’s worst nightmare, a revered pirate hunter turned fall guy for scheming politicians?

In Captain Kidd, his ninth-great-grandson, writer Samuel Marquis, reveals the real story. Kidd was an English-American privateer and leading New York husband and father, dubbed “trusty and well-beloved” by the King of England himself and described by historians as a “worthy, honest-hearted, steadfast, much-enduring sailor” who was the “victim of a deliberate travesty of justice.” With honors far more esteemed than the menacing Blackbeard or any other sea rover at the turn of the seventeenth century, how can Kidd be considered both gentleman and pirate, both hero and villain?

Marquis’ biography clears the foggy haze of five centuries of legend and British propaganda to illuminate the seafaring adventurer and civic leader. He scrupulously recreates Kidd’s perilous world of explosive naval warfare, the daring integrity he exemplified as a pirate hunter, and the political scandal that entangled Kidd in British-American history, rocking the New World and the Old and threatening England’s valuable trade with India.

Captain Kidd is both thrilling and tragic. Behind the legend is a real man woven into the tapestry of early America, rendering him a unique colonial hero and scapegoat, whose life story was fascinating, exciting, bizarre, and heartrending.

~ ~ ~

Kidd was " ... hanged for doing so, whilst so many who did infinitely worse that he died in their beds in the odor of sanctity ... "

This is undoubtedly a well researched tome by the subject's ancestor, demonstrating to the reader the many facets of Captain Kidd's character, in an era of grey and blurred lines.

Marquis documents Kidd's career as a highly successful privateer, commissioned to protect English interests in North America and the West Indies, through to his fateful final voyage where he failed to find many targets, lost much of his crew and faced threats of mutiny. By the late 17th Century, the political climate in England had turned against him, and he was ultimately betrayed by his backer Bellomont, Governor of New York (and his own crew), and was denounced as a pirate.

The bulk of the narrative then focuses on Kidd's arrest and trial, with the author offering his personal opinion on Kidd towards the end of the book, before delving into the legend, the legacy and long-lost loot.

Overall, a worthy tome.

Review: The Concentration Camp Brothel by Robert Sommer

Synopsis: In his seminal work, The Concentration Camp Brothel, Robert Sommer reveals the hidden horrors of sexual forced labor within the SS camp system, a subject long overshadowed and seldom acknowledged in the discourse on the Holocaust.

Through his rigorous examination of over 70 archives and poignant interviews with more than 30 survivors, including former visitors of camp brothels, Sommer paints a vivid and harrowing picture of the atrocities committed. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive exploration of the establishment, operation, and profound impact of brothels in Nazi concentration camps.

Sommer's research meticulously details the brothels' integration into the concentration camp system, their role in the Nazi exploitation of bodies for control and profit, and the complex reactions of the prisoner society to these establishments. He explores the desperate survival strategies employed by the women forced into sexual labor, and the chilling motivations of their exploiters.

The book also places the tragedy of camp brothels in the broader context of sexual violence under Nazi rule, making a critical connection between these acts of exploitation and the overall history of the Holocaust. This updated English edition incorporates new findings and perspectives since the original German publication in 2009, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. The foreword by Annette F. Timm adds further context and contemporary analysis, enhancing the book's relevance and depth.

~ ~ ~

A confronting lost and ignored piece of Holocaust history. A forgotten voice given a hearing; its victims left physically and emotionally scarred, viewed as collaborators despite their own incarceration; so despised by their own that many refused to openly acknowledge this part of their lives. 

Using memoirs of those who would talk and other historical documents, this is a meticulous account of the brothels that were set up and operated, albeit for a short period of time, in Nazi concentration camps. These brothels were for the use of prisoners, not the guards or officers; mainly Ayran women were "employed" - women who had already been incarcerated for what was termed "anti-social behaviours"; the brothels were used as an "incentive" to increase the productivity of the imprisoned, forced labourers.

The stats at the end of the book are eye-opening - the youngest woman was seventeen, the oldest thirty-five.

It should be remembered that since the recognition of sex slavery in International Law (c. 2002), these victims are still ignored, uncompensated (as this was considered "voluntary"), outcast.

This is a well researched and confronting piece of history that - like its victims - deserves more recognition.

Review: Chinawoman's Chance by James Musgrave

Synopsis: Clara Shortridge Foltz faces a patriarchal nemesis in 1884 San Francisco. When a white prostitute is murdered and flayed down to a skeleton, Clara is hired by the Six Companies of Chinatown to defend the sixteen males who are swept-up by the Chinatown Squad. This ragtag and corrupt group of sheriffs works for the mayor, Washington Bartlett. The mayor uses the nation’s anti-Chinese sentiment in his quest to win the race for Governor of California.

Foltz, the first woman admitted to the California Bar, must learn fast to become a detective in order to prove that her client, journalist George Kwong, is not the killer but was set-up by the mayor to take the fall. Along with Ah Toy, her trusted translator and best friend, she is instructed by the head of detectives, Captain Isaiah Lees. Lees becomes enamored with Clara, who is having personal problems with sexual commitment, due to her first marriage with Jeremiah Foltz. He was a Union vet who deserted Clara and their five children for a younger woman.

Captain Lees has personal problems of his own, as he has devoted all his time fighting the corrupt politicians and the Chinatown Squad for twenty years, and has not even made time for female relations. Theirs is a very special kind of romance.

Clara brings a national spotlight to bear on her case, as thousands of women flock to the City by the Bay to support her effort to win against these patriarchal forces. The Chinese are also oppressed, and Clara and Ah Toy become embroiled in a deadly came of cat-and-mouse to trap the real killer and save George Kwong.

~ ~ ~

I received a copy of this as an ARC from the publisher (six years ago and just got around to reading it now). The cover and synopsis, however, are for the first book in the series - the DRC content is for the second, "The Spiritualist Murders".

Unfortunately, this is just not really my style of narrative, plotting or characters. I did not finish this - but did give it a fair go but just found my interest waning in the extreme; possibly had I read the actual first book this may have been a different read for me. In this instance, 19th Century San Francisco and the spiritualist movement are just not my thing.

This may be of interest to other readers, however, please do read the books in order as I believe there is some background setting that is relevant and will assist in the enjoyment of the series.  The third in the series is titled "The Stockton Insane Asylum Murder" for those interested in pursuing this further.

Review: The Pope's Butcher by Joseph C Gioconda

Synopsis: A new novel inspired by the true historical account of one man and his penchant for murder and misogyny in the medieval Roman Catholic Church is being released.

A story that has never been released to the public, The Pope's Butcher recounts the life of Father Heinrich Institoris, the Grand Inquisitor, a visionary man driven to cleanse the world of Eve's original sin by eradicating any woman he suspects of witchcraft. As Inquisition courts bloom across Europe, he vows to leave no stone unturned, no hovel unexamined, and no woman alive, in his search of his own perverse version of justice.

At a time when women had no power or voice, only one man seeks to stop him. The reader follows the life of Sebastian, a young seminarian who was abandoned as a child but carries with him an innate sense of morality that drives him to stand up for even the most vulnerable victims against his own Church. Will such a humble man be able to stop this powerful murderer, a killer even the Pope admires?

This astonishing account of religion, witchcraft and the occult in the Middle Ages reminds us that violence against women is as old as civilization itself and we must understand the events of the past, so we never repeat them.

~ ~ ~

I was expecting something a bit different and as a result found no connection to the narrative nor the characters.

On the one hand we have the character of the witch-hunter and Grand Inquisitor, Fra Heinrich Institoris, a perverse and perverted man, whose mission is to eradicate witches and women he deems are witches. This is definitely a man worthy of further exploration, even if in a fictionalised account - but we are left with only a rudimentaty glance.

Then we have the naive, unworldly Sebastian, who is sent off on what is deemed to be a mission of such importance - to gather as much information as he can about witches and any heretical texts and report back to Heinrich. Quite frankly - Sebastian and his storyline was - for me - pure fantasy - it just didn't ring true for a supposed fictionalised account of actual historic events. Was Sebastian surplus to stock - probably, as I found myself wondering if he was really necessary at all, just there to pad out the word count and "make discoveries" (ie: display the author's research).

When this narrative finally gets to the point, we discover that this is the foundation story for the infamous "Malleus Maleficarum" or "Hammer of Witches" - and the narrative might have been put to better use by instead focusing more on the character of the tome's author, Heinrich Kramer or Heinrich Institor and just plain ditching the woeful character of Sebastian.

Overall, this just didn't cut it for me - I did read it through to the end but was disappointed I didn't set it aside sooner.